Stoughton woman stays positive after double mastectomy

Friday

Oct 18, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 18, 2013 at 6:21 PM

All it took was an elbow to the breast to uncover Rhonda Julian’s breast cancer. Julian, 30, a Stoughton resident, was at a birthday party in February when her daughter, Jada, elbowed her in her left breast.

Lisa Kashinsky

All it took was an elbow to the breast to uncover Rhonda Julian’s breast cancer.

Julian, 30, a Stoughton resident, was at a birthday party in February when her daughter, Jada, elbowed her in her left breast.

"I didn’t know it was cancer," Julian said. "I just got really super mad at her because she hurt me and I was in such pain."

But when she got the phone call March 28 saying she had been diagnosed with cancer, it came with the message that Julian’s daughter had saved her life.

"Jada prances in and is like, ‘mom, why are you crying?’ I said I just found out you saved my life actually," Julian said. "You’re like an angel."

Julian had been elbowed at a party Feb. 24. She went to the doctor Feb. 26, and underwent an ultrasound, mammogram and a biopsy March 22 before receiving the March 28 phone call. She went to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston April 1, where she was diagnosed with Stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.

But instead of taking on a negative outlook on life of her diagnosis, Julian said she views the experience positively.

"The tone has been set for me to just have a good spirit about it," Julian said. "I can’t not think that way because my daughter makes it OK, and my doctors make it OK. If I don’t feel bad, I’m not going to act that way."

Julian said she began her chemotherapy in April, and cut her hair in preparation of losing it. She said she will not wear a wig because it "hides the issue."

"I started realizing that my whole network of people hadn’t even really seen someone who is young, my age, have cancer," she said.

With that notion in mind, Julian said she started tracking her journey on Facebook, taking readers through every step of the way, including her chemotherapy and hair loss, which she said made her look "like Donald Trump" when it was falling out.

Julian completed her chemotherapy Aug. 12 and had a double mastectomy Sept. 20. She was recently informed that the chemotherapy had worked to get rid of the progesterone receptor, one of the causes of her cancer. She said she just began taking Tamoxifen, a medication she will take for the next 10 years to block the receptor for estrogen, and will go for a radiation consultation to see if she needs further treatment.

"Cancer is a blessing to me," she said. "I feel like there’s so many great things that have come about from it," she said.

One of those things was community support, both from family coming together from across the country to members of her local community.

For instance, employees at the Rockland Trust bank in Stoughton gave her a gift card for a $50 skin care treatment. Then, her former dance teacher and childhood mentor, Paula Pelaggi of Norwood, asked Julian if she could do a fundraiser for her.

Julian said she felt "awkward" and "uncomfortable" about taking money from others, but in the end decided that she "had to figure out a way to earn it" in order to accept it.

Thus, she founded the Paint Her Pink Project foundation, a statewide movement for breast cancer awareness, and launched its website on her 30th birthday on Sept. 9, and was officially founded on Sept. 29.

On the Paint Her Pink website, www.paintherpink.com, Julian has combined her Facebook posts with her research into breast cancer legislation and information about fundraisers. She also has put in paperwork to make the foundation a 501c3 nonprofit, to help raise money to help other young women with breast cancer.

"I want to support young women in early detection for breast cancer as well as financially and emotionally support them through their treatment," Julian said, adding that she wants to try to set up "payment plans" with hospitals.

So far, Julian said she has received donation interest from Work Out World in Norwood, which is "ready to donate 10 cents per mile run on two treadmills."

She said the gym also is going to donate $1 of every membership that comes in during October. Expressway Toyota also has offered her a lump sum, she said. Julian noted the organizations are waiting to officially make their donations until after the nonprofit paperwork has been approved and a tax identification has been received.

Julian has partnered with Dana-Farber for the kickoff event for the Paint Her Pink Project, a gala that will be held Oct. 20 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Hampshire House in Boston. The gala will feature a documentary put together by a Norwood High School TV team, as well as a member of the Stoughton Girl Scouts, who will present a patch design in honor of the Paint Her Pink program they will be hosting to serve all Eastern Massachusetts Girl Scouts, Julian said.

Simultaneously in her hometown of Norwood, the foundation will host a Paint the City Pink Ribbon Rally on the Norwood Common, where people and businesses will be able to sponsor a tree and Expressway Toyota will help put up large, pink ribbons. A live feed from the Hampshire House also will be set up, Julian said.

On the flyers for the events, Julian appears bald, with pink flowers and green leaves painted all over her face and body, which she said is symbolic of her cause as well as a way to thank those who have come together to help her over the past few months.

"Three days before my (double mastectomy) surgery, I wanted to be colorful and I wanted to say thank-you and I didn’t want to use flowers; flowers weren’t enough," she said. "You can’t send flowers to everybody, but I can at least show people how vibrant a person who has cancer can be and how they revived me and how they brought me back to life."

For information on the Paint Her Pink Project and the upcoming gala, visit www.paintherpink.com.

Lisa Kashinsky may be reached at lkashinsky@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @lkashinskyWL.